Chapter Eight #2
Women’s work wasn’t the only thing he was avoiding. Malika had reconciled herself to the fact that no flirting or ruining would occur this morning. She could use this opportunity, however, to learn more about him.
“Has Jayce always been in love with Belle?”
“Jayce was never in love with Belle. He was in love with what she represented, and he got that wrong too,” Tilly said, wiping her hand on the apron that covered her skirt and leaving a bright smear of juice.
“Belle’s a doctor. She’s interested in medical research, and she’s always got her nose in a book.
She and Beau work well together because their careers are important to them, and they respect that about each other.
She was never going to be the perfect little housewife Jayce thinks he wants. ”
Tilly’s opinion regarding Jayce and Belle’s domestic compatibility matched Malika’s exactly, but it made her wonder how Tilly had reached her conclusions.
“Are you in love with Jayce?”
“He should be so lucky.” Tilly tipped another handful of berries into the basket. “No. I prefer my men twenty-first century. Jayce is more like a brother.”
That was good news, although it raised other questions. “If you prefer twenty-first century men, why are you living in nineteenth century Montana?”
“Nineteenth century Montana suits me. I don’t need a man in either century.”
“I don’t need a man, either. But I love looking at them, and I love flirting with them.
The century they live in doesn’t matter.
” Malika sighed mournfully. Jayce wasn’t paying any attention to her.
He seemed to believe that a bear rampage would erupt any second if he didn’t remain vigilant.
“How can a man who is so very beautiful be so completely hopeless with women? He doesn’t even know how to flirt. ”
“Jayce?” Tilly sniffed. “He doesn’t know how to flirt because he’s never had to. Women have been throwing themselves at him since he was twelve. Then Belle comes along, and she has no interest in him, so he decides right then and there that she must be the one.”
Malika had never given her own marriage much thought.
It was her brother’s business, not hers, so the American ritual of choosing their own marriage partner amazed her.
It seemed so … risky. So dangerous. Her sisters and mother had shared many stories of women who married men not preapproved by their families, and the dire consequences that resulted.
Besides, her brother had done well for her sisters. They were all happy. None of them were second wives.
Hurt wriggled into her heart. Why hadn’t he gone to the same trouble for her?
Because you’re the last and he forgot all about you.
She refused to believe it. She was impossible for anyone to forget.
Not that it mattered. She would reject the marriage he’d arranged for her, and she’d be ruined for real in his eyes and not only as part of the adventure she’d had thrust upon her. She blinked hard to clear her blurred vision.
“Why would Jayce think Belle is the right one if she showed no interest in him?” she asked Tilly.
“He’s never had a woman not want him before, so I don’t think he noticed.
He’s ready to settle down—his parents are more than ready for it.
Huck doesn’t mind telling the world how much he wants grandchildren.
Jayce’s dilemma is Burning Scrub and its relationship with the Ride No More Ranch.
There aren’t a whole lot of twenty-first century women interested in living a nineteenth century Montana life.
Belle fits into both worlds, the same as his mother, so she seemed perfect to him. ”
Malika pondered his dilemma. Waiting for the right woman to come along was the wrong approach. He’d be better off learning how to please women who already desired him. If he pleased one of them enough, surely, she would be willing to live in the nineteenth century with him.
They both could learn so much from each other.
Why did he not see it?
*
Jayce
Watching the two women laughing and chatting gave Jayce cold chills.
In hindsight, Tilly might not have been the best choice to use as a buffer. He hadn’t expected them to like each other. They were so very different. The quick looks they darted at him made his ears burn and his heart palpitate. Women talked. What if Malika told Tilly he’d kissed her?
He was considering the potential ramifications of their blossoming alliance when he spotted Adam walking alongside the creek, headed toward him.
Adam was just the man Jayce wanted to see.
He was eager to share his opinion on the placement of the bear fences he’d offered to help erect but hadn’t been consulted about.
The tingling in his fingers had stopped but his toes were taking longer to recover.
His arm muscles still ached from the spasms.
Adam climbed the short gravel slope and cut through the grass to where Jayce was sitting. His knees popped as he dropped his scrawny butt on the ground and lifted the corner of the cloth covering the picnic basket to check out the contents.
His eyes lit up. “Grady’s chocolate cake. Guess maybe I’ll join you for lunch.”
“If you want some of that cake, you’ve got to work for it,” Jayce said, still annoyed about the fence. “Why not help the ladies pick berries? There’s plenty on the far side of the bushes. You should start there.”
Adam broke off a blade of grass and smoothed it straight with his fingers. “Probably not a good idea to go crawling around in any berry bushes this summer. Benny told me to hide the fences as best I could, and that’s the best I could do.”
“That information would have proved helpful earlier. What if I’d had a weak heart?”
“You’re young. It’s not the first time you’ve grabbed hold of an electric fence.”
Of course not. Any ranch kid over the age of five had laid pennies on an electric fence to see what would happen. The adventurous ones held hands to see how many kids the current could run through. Short answer—a lot.